Inepsy - Nuclear Destruction Punx

A few months ago while waiting to play a show at a squat, I saw a faded Inepsy poster on the wall. The artwork was pretty mean, with crusty zombies causing havoc in a destroyed city, so this was a no-brainer: I had to know more about this band. I take pride in researching as much as I can about hardcore/punk/thrash you name it, but Inepsy was one of those legendary names that I had never actually taken the chance to sit down and listen to. My bad.

For me, Inepsy's sound encapsulates the real spirit of punk, with a sound that is not bound in a specific style and even though it has a trademark identity, it can appeal to different tribes of the extreme world. Inepsy's metal punk death squad style is something that does bring us back to 80s basements and punks going wild with huge-ass skateboards, but it also goes nicely along with modern day d-beat as well as the more punky side of thrash metal (i.e. Toxic Holocaust). Their songs are usually rather long (for HC/punk standards at least) but pack tons of energy, psychedelic dirt, bad-ass attitude, and of course tons of Motorhead crust-rock'n'roll,. All this reeks of that rare post-apocalyptic, primitivist, anti-civilization feel that many of us adore!

Inpesy have been working hard at rewriting some lesser known chapters of hardcore's history and they get our total respect for that! This Canadian motorcrust powerhouse may have broken up in 2011, but their legacy will live on.

Dirty Wombs: "We Rise" Demo Review

Genre: metallic punk

Location: Patras, Greece

Band Website: bandcamp

Label: (-) self released

The Greek scene has a lot bands breaking out right now, and they are doing it in style and with ferocity. I am happy to say that some of these young fellas aim very high and really raise the bar, thus creating some music that's totally worth the attention of the worldwide metal/punk/hc world.

A good example of such bands is Dirty Wombs, an awesome metallic punk band based in Patras. Now people may want to call this style they're playing "japcore" and make comparisons with all kinds of crazy underground punk bands that I am sure the band listens to in order to craft their sound... however, since I am not too big on Japanese HC, I will break it down for you in a more simple way. What DW really do on this one is take the tight metallic basis of old school thrashy punk and combine it with crazy-ass solos, memorable double-guitar harmonies and barbarous crust vocals. Their style is all go no slow, and maintains its character throughout all the 6 songs of this self-released demo. This band could go down well with crust/dbeat fans but also with thrash freaks, and of course the more open-minded and underground-loving metal kids.

Anyways, so DW has just released this incendiary demo (which was a long time in the making) on a nicely presented, limited cassette release. What we got here is a neat little package with cool artwork that is loyal to the band's style, accompanied by a nice layout with lyrics, drawings etc made by the infamous Jerboa Illustrations. The production is ultra tight to the point I am quite amazed. The mixing brings the  flaming guitar leads at the fore, while the organic-sounding drums, rhythm guitars and truly distorted bass make this mother sound tight and mean. I want to give an extra point for the vocals, which are heavy but sound really clear (you can make out the words and everything) and go back and forth between english and greek.

All in all, this is a very solid piece of work by this Greek band and I am sure the underground will catch up on it fast. Won't you?

Record Review: HELLCRAWLER - Wastelands (Hollow Earth Records)

Things have been progressing like crazy in all fronts of extreme music; bands transmigrate from one genre to another in the need to create something worth listening to and bring together the best of influences. But can a band combine different characteristics from multiple genres and still create a solid sound that is totally their own, trademark noise? Hellcrawler prove all of the above with their sludgy blackened metal meets barbaric crustcore.

Genre: Metal/Crust

Country: Slovenia

Label: Hollow Earth Records (link)

Band Website: bandcamp

There are times that pure death metal is too narrow a path for our intricate taste in brutal music, and on the other side even the most brutal crust is too much of a punk deal. We want something that combines the heaviness and darkness of both these genres. And Hellcrawler have a little bit of something for everyone. Either if you're a punk kid with dreads down your back, a metal dude clad in black or simply a HC kid won over by metal, you are in the right place with this gut-punching factory of brutal noise. You can either just put on this album, get Satanic and let it raw (recommended), or we can try to go into specifics and analyze these sounds a little bit. In fact, we'll do just that in the next couple paragraphs to give a better idea.

I like the fact that what's going on in Wastelands is dark and bleak, just like it should. This is why I'd say that this album, if I had to categorize it somewhere, belongs most of all in the crust genre. It is raw and dark and it has an overall punk attitude. But if you pay closer attention, you'll come to notice that these guys actually play some fucking proper metal that will satisfy many different metal tastes at once. They have the pseudo-black metal in check with their nasty unholy guitars and BM blasts; they have the retro death metal vox which nod to stuff like Hellhammer and Possessed; then again, they have the flaming hotrod rock n roll solos every now and then, just for good measure. There is a ton of D-beat too, so punx need not worry.

The production isn't clean or anything, but of course it's just right for this style. I couldn't imagine this band with triggered drums and computerized guitars. No fucking way! What blasts from the speakers through Wastelands is a truly barbaric sound that makes me picture the band play right down the end of a sludgy mountain cave in their native Slovenia. Stuff gets so dirty and muddy that at some points, even though these guys are speeding it up big time, it still feels like they're playing slow or at least mid tempo.

Summing up, I'd say that this is some of the best crust I heard in recent times, and a band that definitely deserves to be considered a bit ahead of the pack. There are so many others doing the same tired melodic crust thing or Motorhead/rock crust type stuff, we don't need more bands like that. Give Hellcrawler a chance and try something new and uncomprosmisingly heavy! With song titles like "Motosluts from Hell", what else do you want?

WE'RE BACK WE'RE PISSED

Hello again, after a short holiday break. We got a new design on this blog to fresh things up a little, as we also embark on a new quest: to discover & present only the best from the world of hardcore/punk/metal and beyond!

We have a lot of cool stuff in store. For now, enjoy this video of crusty rock n roll madness with hilarious shots of punx from famous 80s films!

Resistant Culture: Serious tribal crust/grind/punk from Los Angleles